Refrigeration apparatus



Sept. A. A. QUIMPER 2,254,780

REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 23, 1938 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES: INVENTOR 4 71mm AMT/10A A). QU/MEEE ATTOR N Sept. 2, '1941.

A. A. QUIMPER REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Fiied Nov 2:5, less 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ANTHONY Q- Qulu fie WITNESSES;

ATTORN Y A the outer shell I2 and insulating material I! Patented Sept. 2, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Anthony A. Quimper, Westiield, Mass., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 23, 1938, Serial No. 241,937

8 Claims. (Cl-220-15) is provided in .the outer shell l2 below the food This invention relates to refrigerator cabinet construction and more particularly to the support of the innerfood compartment liner in the refrigerator cabinet.

One object of the invention is to provide a means for securing the inner food compartment liner in the refrigerator cabinet, which securing means is of simple design and is readily assembled.

Another object is to provide a means for securing the inner liner in the cabinet in such a manner that the outer shell of the, cabinet and the inner liner are held in alignment but the space occupied by the breaker strip is not obstructed by the securing means.

Still another obiectof the invention is to provide a novel support for the inner food compart- "ment liner of a refrigerator cabinet of the type provide v liner I4 and insulation material I! is also packed between the food liner l4 and the partition 20. The insulating material between the rear portions of the food liner and the partition comprises rigid blocks 22 which aid in supporting the food liner It at the rear thereof.

The edge portions of the food liner are turned outwardly to provide attachment flanges It. The

edge portions ll of the outer shell [2 surrounding the opening I! are turned inwardly, and a portion it is'doubled back rearwardly and another portion bent reversely to define a groove I! for a breaker strip 2| and an attachment flange 23. The configuration of the edge portions of both the inner liner i4 and the outer shell I2 are best shown inFigs. 3. and 4.

The flanges IQ of the inner liner it are cut away at the corners to facilitate the bending operation and the attachment flange 23 of the outer'liner is likewise partially cut away at the corners for the same reason.

A metal plate 28 roughly in the form of a C is welded at the corners of the inner liner ll to the inner surface of the flanges l6 thereof. A strip 'of stiff heat-insulating material 21, preferably formed of a material treated with a resinous condensate product, is secured diagonally across the corners of the opening in the outer shell l2 and a0 is secured at its ends by rivets 28 to the attach- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a refrigerator cabinet J embodying the invention with portions of the breaker strip of the cabinet broken away to show the means for securing the inner liner in the cabinet.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the upper left-. hand corner of the refrigerator cabinet of Fi 1 with portions of the breaker strip broken away;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line III-III of Fi 2;

tion and a metal liner ll insertable through the openings I! which liner It forms the food storage compartment of the refrigerator. The walls of the inner liner ll are spaced from the wall of is packed in the spaces. -A horizontal partition ment flanges 28 thereof. Small segments 29 are cut from the strips 21 at one edge to accommodate the corners of the inner .liner II. The inner liner I4 is then inserted in the opening l3 as of the cabinet l0 and its metal corner plates 26 are secured to the strips 21 by screws II.

The strips 21 form the sole connections between the inner liner I4 and the outer shell l2 and together with the insulating blocks 22 be- 40 tween the food liner i4 and the partition 20 Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 2;

form the sole supporting elements of this liner.

It will be observed that this construction leaves the entire front face of the flanges l6 and 23 of both the outer shell l2 and the inner liner ll free for the attachment of the breaker strip 2!.

The breaker strip 2| may be secured to the front faces of the flanges l6 and 23 in any desired manner. The manner here described is shown in greater detail in' the copending application of Howard D. White, Serial No. 238,364,

filed November 2, 1938, and now matured into Patent #2,212,96 4, and-assigned to the assignee of this invention. It consists briefly of a strip of stiff heat-insulating material 2| which is at- 20 tached to the cabinet by forcing one edge 32 into which passes over the attachment flange ii of the inner liner I4. The spring 33 has also a central leg 38 which forces the breaker strip 2| against the doubled back portion l8 of the edge portion I! of the outer liner l2."

It will be observed that the thickness of the plate is such that it compensates for the difference of the thickness of the space occupied by the leg 38 of the spring and the s-shaped attachment strip 28, so that the various pieces of insulating material forming the breaker strip lie in the same plane. The edge portions of the breaker strip 2| are mitered and concealed by corner clips 31 which are secured by screws III to the strips of heat-insulating material 21.

From the above description, it will be apparent that this invention provides an attaching means for a metal inner liner in a metal outer shell of a refrigeratoncabinet which is of simple construction, is easily assembled, and offers no obstruction to the attachment of a breaker strip to the front face of the refrigerator. This attachment means, furthermore, has good heat-insulating qualities since the heat leakage paths along the insulating strips is of small cross sectional area.

The invention has been described with reference to a. construction in which the breaker strips 2| lie in a plane surface. This construction is not an essential feature of the invention as the surface in which the breaker strips 2| lie may be a warped surface such as a cylindrical surface, in which case the door ll would be constructed to conform to the cylindrical surface. ,Broadly, the construction may be such that the breaker strips lie in any continuous surface. By a continuous surface is meant any surface devoid of angular bends.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is'susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerator cabinet, the combination of walls comprising inner and outer sheets with heat insulation disposed therebetween, said walls having a substantially rectangular access opening therein and a door therefor, said inner and outer sheets each having an edge portion about s'aid opening. said portions lying substantially in the same plane and spaced from one another and a plurality of separate diagonal strips comprising stiff material secured across the corners of the opening of the outer sheet, said strips being spaced a considerable distance from each other and being secured to the edge portion of both the inner and the outer sheets to hold said portions in alignment, said strips providing a path of low heat conductivitybetween said inner and outer sheets and a breaker strip adjacent the outer face of said edge portions and bridging the space therebetween.

2. In a refrigerator cabinet having front, side and rear walls, the combination of an outer shell, an inner liner, heat insulation between the outer shell and the inner liner, said outer shell and inner liner'having a substantially rectangular door opening provided in the front wall thereof. flanges substantially surrounding said door opening on the outer shell and on the inner liner, the flanges on the inner liner being spaced from the flanges on the outer shell, structural members including a. plurality of separate rigid corner members secured to the rear surfaces of said flanges of the outer shell diagonally across the corners of the rectangular opening in said outershell, said strips being spaced a considerable distance from each other, means for attaching the flanges on said inner liner to intermediate portions of said corner members, and breaker strips of thin heat resisting material secured between the flanges of the outer shell and the inner liner, said breaker strips extending about the door opening and being disposed in a plane substantially parallel to the front wall of the cabinet.

3. In a refrigerator cabinet, the combination of inner'and outer shells of metal with heat in sulation therebetween forming a substantially rectangular insulated food storage compartment having a rectangular access opening at the front thereof, a door for closing said access opening, said shells having edge portions spaced from each other peripherally of the access opening and ly in substantially the same plane, a separate strip of rigid material disposed across each corner of said access opening, means for attaching respective strips to adjacent edge portions of the outer shell on opposite sides of said corners, so that straight lines extending between points of attachment of respective strips extend diagonally across said corners, thus strengthening said outer shell, means for attaching said rigid strips to said inner shell adjacent the corners of the access opening and between the means for attaching the rigid strips to the outer shell, said strips providing the major support for the inner shell from the outer shell, said rigid strips and attaching vide a path of low heat conductivity between the inner and outer shells, and a breaker strip bridging the space between said edge portions and overlying said rigid strips.

4. In a refrigerator cabinet, the combination of inner and outer shells of metal with heat insulation therebetween forming a substantially rectangular insulated food storage compartment having a rectangular access opening at the front thereof, a door for closing said access opening, said shells having edge portions spaced from each other peripherally of the access opening and lying in substantially the same plane, a separate her of said access opening, means for attaching respective strips to adjacent edge portions of the outer shell near the ends of the rigid strips and at opposite sides of respective corners, so that a straight line extending between "the attaching means extends diagonally across said respective corners, thus strengthening said outer shell, means for attaching said rigid strips to the inner shell adjacent the comers of the access opening and between the means for attaching the rigid strips to the outer shell, said strips providing the major support for the inner shell from the outer shell, said rigid strips and attaching means being constructed and arranged to provide a path of low heat conductivity between the inner and outer shells, and a breaker stripbridging the space between said edge portions and overlying said rigid strips. 5. In a refrigerator, the combination of inne and outer shells of metal with heat insulation therebetween forming a substantially rectangular insulated food storage compartment having a rectangular access opening at the front thereof, a door for closing said access opening, said shells having edge portions spaced from each other peripherally of the access opening and lying in substantially the same plane, a separate strip of rigid material disposed across each corner of said access opening, means for attaching respective strips to the adjacent edge portions of said outer shell near the ends of the rigid strips and at opposite sides of respective corners, so that a line extending between the attaching means extends diagonally across said respective corners. thus strengthening said outer shell, means for attaching said rigid strips to the inner shells adj acent the corner of the access opening and between the means for attaching the rigid strips to the outer shell, said rigid strips providing the major support for the inner shell from the outer shell, said attaching means for the inner shell lying substantially on said diagonal line extending between said attaching means to the outer shell, said rigid strips and attaching means providing a path of low heat conductivity between the inner and outer shells, and a breaker strip bridging the space between said edge portions and overlying said rigid strips.

6. In a refrigerator cabinet having front, side and rear walls, the combination of an outer rectangular shell and an inner rectangular shell disposed within and spaced from the outer shell, said inner shell having a door opening provided in the front wall thereof, said outer shell having a relatively larger and concentric opening provided in the front wall thereof, heat insulation disposed between the shells, said inner and outer shells having flanges disposed about the peripheries of their respective openings which flanges extend toward each other in a plane substantially parallel with the front wall of the cabinet, said inner and outer flanges being spaced from each other peripherally of said openings, struts extending diagonally across each corner of the outer shell and secured, respectively, at their ends to the rear side of the flange of the outer shell for structurally reinforcing the latter, means secured to the rear side of the inner flange at each corner portion of the latter and also secured, respectively, to adjacent diagonal struts for fixedly supporting the inner liner from the outer shell, breaker strips of heat resisting material extending in a plane parallel to the front wall of the cabinet and covering the space between the flanges of the inner and outer shells, said breaker strips extending about the door opening and overlapping the front sides of the inner and outer flanges, and means for securing the breaker strips between the flanges,

7. In a refrigerator cabinet, the combination of a substantially rectangular outer shell having a door opening in the front thereof and including vertical walls and a horizontal wall, a substantially rectangular inner liner having side, bottom, top and rear walls and also being open at its front, a single-piece corner plate having its sides substantially in a vertical plane which is substantially parallel to the front of the cabinet and extending between one of said vertical walls and said horizontal wall of the outer shell adjacent each front corner thereof, means for rigidly attaching each of said plates, respectively, substantially directly to said one vertical wall and to said horizontal wall at points spaced from said front corners of the outer shell, and means for rigidly attaching the inner liner to each of said plates at one or more points intermediate said points of attachment to said vertical and horizontal walls and adjacent a front corner of said inner liner, said plates providing the major support for the inner liner from the outer shell.

8. In a refrigerator cabinet, the combination of a substantially rectangular outer shell having a door opening in the front thereof and including vertical walls and a horizontal wall, a substantially rectangular inner liner having side, bottom, top and rear walls and also being open at its front, a single-piece corner plate having its sides substantially in a vertical plane which is substantially parallel to the front of the cabinet and extending between one of said vertical walls and said horizontal wall of the outer shell adjacent each front corner thereof, means for rigidly attaching each of said plates, respectively, substantially directly to said one vertical wall and to said horizontal wall at points spaced from said front corners of the outer shell, and means for rigidly attaching the inner liner to each of said plates at one or more points intermediate said points of attachment to said vertical and horizontal walls and adjacent a front corner of said inner liner, said plate providing the major support for the inner liner to the outer shell and a breaker strip including an exposed face extending between said outer shell and inner liner peripherally of the door opening, said corner plates so positioning said outer shell and inner liner that a major portion of the exposed face of the breaker strip is substantially at right angles to the sidewalls of the cabinet.

ANTHONY A. QU'IMPER.

- DIISCLAIMER 2,254,780.-Anth0ny A. Qwimper, Westfield, Mass. REFRIGERATION APPARATUS. Patent dated Sept. 2, 1941. Disclaimer filed Feb. 26, 1946, by the assignee, Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Hereby 'enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 2, and 6 of said patent.

(Oflicial Gazette April .9, 1946.) 

